Narcissa, looking pained and frightened at the same time, gathered within herself enough courage and did something she knew was very very stupid. She challenged Lucius Malfoy, her husband. "Dear, do you really think that's the best way to deal with Draco? I mean, maybe…" Lucius slapped her so hard she was thrown violently to the floor.
*****
Ron stood there for almost a full minute before raising his hand to rub the spot on his cheek that was rapidly beginning to show the red handprint that was the evidence of the good, hard slap his sister had placed on his face before quietly exiting the room. Then he spun around to glare at Hermione. "This is all *your* fault!" he raged at her. She looked rather offended and shocked but managed to sputter, "*My* fault?!" "Yes, *your* fault! If you hadn't been nagging at me, I wouldn't have snapped at her." "Oh no, you are *not* pinning this on me you slimy git!" With that, she smacked him even harder than Ginny had just done on the opposite cheek and stormed out of the room, banging the door loudly behind her and muttering under her breath as she went. "What in the *hell* has gotten *into* these damn women?!" he yelled at precisely the same moment Harry had chosen to come down from the boys dorm into the common room.
*****
Narcissa stayed on the ground until he left the room and though she thought her head might explode, she refused to cry. If there was one thing Lucius had taught her, whether it was intentional or not, it was pride. She reached out with one hand to hold onto the table and pulled herself up. She had put up with Lucius's horrible temper and frequent violent beatings since she had been forced to marry him and she was not going to take it any more. For a while now, she had been trying to hold on and maintain things for Draco's sake, but it was quite obvious after today's ordeal that Draco would be better off if Lucius were gone. Narcissa vowed then and there that Lucius would not control her or Draco anymore.
*****
Harry, not quite sure what to make of the situation, just stood there for a minute before continuing into the room. "Uh…Ron?" Ron jumped at the sound of Harry's voice and, startled back to reality, looked sheepishly at Harry. "Ron…are you ok?" "Um….yeah, I just…" "K then, I'm assuming one of these 'damn women' is Mione and that whoever the other is is probably the reason for at least one of those handprints on your face. Am I right so far?" Ron blushed furiously now, hiding the handprints. "No, Harry! Not like you're thinking! I don't even know if Hermione has those kind of feelings for me, but there is no other girl for me! Basically, Ginny was upset, said we left her out, I told her 'go get a boyfriend or something,' she got mad, smacked me, then she left, I got mad and yelled at Mione for nagging at me, she got mad at me cuz I blamed her so then she smacked me even harder on the other cheek." As Ron took a breath after this explanation, Harry stood there thinking for a few seconds before he broke the silence by asking where Ginny was. Ron was incredulous, not to mention irate. "I don't know! I don't care! The little bitch just smacked me!" "Don't call her a bitch ever again, Ron. She's your sister and she was right. We do leave her out a lot and when she finally gets enough guts to call you on it, you totally dismissed her as if her feelings didn't matter, when you should have apologized for the slight and made the effort to be nicer to her. So I'm going to go find her and do what you should've done," Harry calmly explained, then turned and walked away. 'Damn, I wonder if there's anyone else I could piss off today,' Ron wondered, 'Sister, Potential Girlfriend, Best Friend…hmm…I know…Worst Enemy! Where's Malfoy?' Ron shook his head, and for lack of anything better to do, went off in search of anyone to talk to, but half-hoping to run into either Draco or Ginny--one to take out his frustrations on and the other to apologize to. If only he knew…
*****
While stumbling around in the dark, Draco had found some material and a short metal pole. There had also been some gas next to it and so he had wrapped the material around the pole, tying it in a crude knot and dipped it in the flammable liquid. After lighting his homemade torch, he and Ginny had explored the little "almost house thing" they had landed in. Draco, on his first exploration, had thought it to be only one room, but with better lighting and another pair of eyes helping him look around, he and Ginny had discovered that there were several adjoining rooms. There was a kitchen, a bathroom, and a dungeon-like cellar that had food stored in it. The cellar seemed to be charmed to have a constant supply of food that never spoiled and there was even a closet that Draco had taken to calling "The Closet of Necessity" after a "Room of Necessity" that existed in Hogwarts, which was where she went to school according to Draco. After their day of exploring they were both exhausted and Draco insisted that Ginny needed lots of rest even though she felt fine. When they went to go bed, though, the issue of sleeping arrangements came up. Even though they were "going out," Ginny had thought a lot about the way she had just assumed that he was her boyfriend. Not remembering anything, she had decided it was probably best to just start over with everything and just act as though nothing had happened between them. "Draco, would you be offended if I were to propose that we just start over? I mean, I don't remember anything….I can't believe I just assumed you were my boyfriend…I mean I kinda need to get caught up on who I am before we try to make a relationship work…um…could we be just friends until I get things worked out in my head?" Draco tried not to show his relief at her words…this was perfect! Now they could form an *actual* relationship and he wouldn't have to worry about it and the lie he had told her so easily. "Ginny, I totally agree. Let's pretend we never dated and we're starting a new friendship. Agreed?" She grinned. "Agreed."
*****